Links for 8th December 2008

"The Pods plugin is like Custom Fields on steroids. It works by adding user-defined fields to blog posts. The fields shown are determined by which content type, or “pod” you select when editing a blog post. By choosing a pod, you are simply re-purposing that blog post as an event item, product item, person item — anything you want."

"Like an influenza outbreak, happiness – and misery too – spread through social networks, affecting people through three degrees of separation. For instance, a happy friend of a friend of a friend increases the chances of personal happiness by about 6%… " WTF?

"The system, which took about six years to create, mostly relies on trust and transparency. Each transaction takes place online, and is recorded within the system. Users can then rate and provide feedback for each other, search the directory or use the systems networking tools. The two said that they didn't design the system to operate in place of the current economic system, but to enhance it. Although, the better it works, the less people will need to rely on the dollar."

"Peptide nucleic acid, a synthetic hybrid of protein and DNA, could form the basis of a new class of drugs—and of artificial life unlike anything found in nature… " Your new science fiction thriller plot device awaits!